Recently, an apparatus which (i) photoelectrically converts a subject image which is formed by a taking lens into electric signals using an image sensor such as a charge-coupled device (CCD), (ii) performs a compression process for the electric signals by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) method and the like and (iii) records the image data in a recording medium has been widely used. For example, there is a digital still camera (also called an electronic still camera) which comprises a card medium such as a PC card or “SmartMedia”, an internal fixed memory and the like.
In the wake of this phenomenon, there has been a printer which reads out the image data which is generated by such digital still camera (described as “DSC” below) as described above and the like and two-dimensionally prints the image data in a printing medium such as paper.
Also, an AV equipment such as a TV or a DVD recorder which has a viewer function with which the image data taken by such DSC as described above can be seen and a browser function which displays information data such as a data broadcasting has been commercialized. And, the rasterization of a printer for printing such contents as described above from the AV equipment has been considered.
Normally, header information which accompanies the Exchangeable Image File Format (Exif) standard is added to the image data which is generated and compressed according to the JPEG standard by a conventional DSC and the like. The type of the employed DSC, photographic conditions in shooting and the like are described in the header information. Also, in the case where it is desired to record high quality data, the high quality data can be accumulated in a memory medium by a reversible and incompressible recording method (for example, the Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) method).
In the case where image data of the JPEG format which is generated by a DSC and the like is printed, the conventional image printing apparatus (for example, Japanese Laid-Open Application No. 2000-13718) executes each kind of image processing, that is, a rasterization process of compression data (called an extension or a decompression) and a color conversion process which performs a color correction and the like, based on the contents described in the header information, so that the inputted image data is printed in the optimum form.
By the way, as contents for printing, there is a content which is described in the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) format for the World Wide Web (WWW) and a content which is described in the Broadcast Markup Language (BML) format for a digital broadcasting, and both of the contents include image data of the JPEG format.
However, the image data which is included in such contents as described above is not limited to the image data which is generated by a DSC and the like. For example, there are image data which is read by a scanner and the like and image data whose format is changed from other image formats. Although such image data as described above is the image data of the same JPEG format, the header information of the Exif is not added to. And, among such contents as described above, there is a case where JPEG images of different data sources exist in the same content.
Moreover, the image data which is used by a DSC is generally created based on the color space called “sRGB”. However, some of the image data is created by the color spaces of the National TV Standards Committee (NTSC) format, called “YIQ” or “adobeRGB”. Also, like the BML, there is a case where the data which has been converted into the “YIQ” color space of the NTSC format is prepared on the assumption that the data is to be displayed on a TV screen from the very start. On the other hand, as a printer usually converts the color space of the image data into the Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-blacK (CMYK) space and executes printing, the color space conversion which converts the color space of the inputted image data into the color space for printing is necessary.
If such mixed contents as described above are printed by the conventional printer, the image processing is executed uniquely treating all of the image data which is included in the contents as the image data which is created by a DSC and the like. Thus, the conversion of the color space and the image processing are also executed to the image data of the same JPEG format which is read out by a scanner and the like whose specific standards are different, as if the image data was read by a DSC.
Furthermore, conventionally, in the case where a printing of high quality is executed solving such situation as described above, a user needs to preview the outcome of the printing using a computer and adjust the specific parameters for the color space conversion. Thereby, it is complicated.
The first object of the present invention, in view of such problem as described above, is to provide an image printing apparatus and the like which can print each image well even in the case where a plurality of images of different formats and the like are mixed in one content for printing. Furthermore, the second object of the present invention is to provide an image printing apparatus and the like which can execute a good printing without user's specific directions.